


Simple is Overrated

by scurvaliciousbay



Series: Inquisitor!Kass and Companion!Mel [1]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Discovering Magic, Gen, Kass being a good mom, Mages, Qunari, i honestly don't know how to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 15:20:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16875288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scurvaliciousbay/pseuds/scurvaliciousbay
Summary: Before Kass became Inquisitor, she was just a mercenary making ends meet for her daughter. And then Ash discovered her magic.





	Simple is Overrated

Kass hauls the great hay bale overhead and onto the wagon for the farmer. He hands her a few coins in payment, thanking her before hopping up on the wagon and waving goodbye. She tucks the coins into her little coin purse and walks over to the tavern. It’s not open yet, even though Kass is pretty sure the establishment could make more if they opened earlier. Still, the provider swears he’s a good Andrastian man and that opening before noon is against the Maker. In the mornings, Kass guards the place and helps clean it to get ready for the patrons in the afternoon.

She doesn’t fancy herself as particularly terrifying looking. When she lived under the Qun she even thought she was beautiful, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the beholders to the south favor…slighter women. Who don’t have horns. Her height and horns along make her intimidating apparently, regardless of the weapon on her hip. The provider, a man by the name of Edric, is happy to keep her around, he swears that attempted and successful break ins are at a record low and he owes it to her wonderfully intimidating presence. As long as he pays, she’s fine with it.

In the evenings before she leaves to go tend to Ash, Edric is usually kind enough to give her free food and drink, as extra thanks. It doesn’t go unnoticed and it endears Kass ever the more to the tiny hamlet in the Free Marches.

In some evenings, however, Ash comes to visit Kass. No one is foolish enough to bother the daughter of fearsome Kass, they know they risk their lives if they do. But that doesn’t stop Kass from worrying. Ash is her world now, both her heart and responsibility. But after a year, Kass begins to worry a little less. The villagers have come to love Ashokara, their little Vashoth girl who can chase the goats back into their pens, who is darling in all ways.

At six, Ashokara is already tall compared to the other little girls – by as much as more than half of a foot. Kass can still pick her up, due to both her height and strength, and several of the kids whose parents can’t pick them anymore ask Kass if she can pick them up, spin them around. It’s a fun game that they all laugh at, happily twirling about.

That day, Ash comes to the tavern in the evening, hungry but laughing with several of her friends. They crowd in a table far from the bar where the most drunk of the patrons usually linger.

“Mama!” Ash shouts, laughing excitedly as she waves to Kass.

Kass waves back and strolls over. Ash bounces in excitement and runs over, flinging her arms out –

Tiny flames sputter from her hands. Sparks of blue that are not strong enough to cause harm or damage, but a hush falls over the tavern all at once. Kass can feel all the eyes fall on them, in horror, in betrayal, in confirmed suspicion.

Ash lands in Kass harms, and she holds her daughter close.

“She’s a mage,” she hears Edric say in surprise from behind the bar.

Louella, the mother of the girls that Ash just ran in with pulls her daughters close to her, shifting them behind her as if to protect them…no, exactly to protect them from the danger they’ve all identified as Ashokara.

No, no, they must understand, she didn’t mean to –

“She is still the same little girl you saw five minutes ago, nothing has changed. She is the same,” Kass argues gently. Ash looks around confused at all the horrified faces.

“What did I do? I…didn’t mean to do anything,” she whispers, huddling close to Kass.

“She belongs in the circle, Kass, that is how the Maker willed it,” Edric replies from the safety behind his bar. Several of the militia stand, one leaves the tavern and she knows it’s to go find the nearest Templars.

“You will not listen to me when I say your system is wrong, that locking away children who are guilty of  _nothing_ but of being born is  _wrong,_  but I will ask one thing. Let us go, do not tell the Templars anything, let us go and we will never bother you again. You tell the Templars and I will show you the ferocity of the Qun, of a mother  _robbed_ ,” Kass pleads. The militiamen narrow their eyes at her but Edric sighs.

“Grab your things and leave. Never come back.”

“Swear you will not tell the Templars!” She demands.

“I swear on the Maker’s holy light,” he says and while she knows it isn’t the perfect guarantee, she will take it. Kass picks Ash up and runs to their small home she built months ago.

“What’s going on? I don’t understand,” Ash whines.

“We have to go, little one,” Kass explains, shoving clothes and a few worthwhile trinkets into bags. She grabs the box of coins of all the pay she’s managed to save over the past year and attaches it to her belt.

“But why? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, sweetheart, you’re fine. You’re a mage, that’s what happened. You made little flames when you shoved your hands out, and it scared some people, but it’s alright, you’re still you and we’re going to go some place where you can be you without silly people being afraid.”

“Mother Rosanna said mages are bad and have to go away…” Ash whispers.

“Mother Rosanna is wrong, there is nothing wrong with you. You are not bad, I promise.” She wraps a cloak around Ash and then herself. They can’t take everything, but Kass tries, pulling on some of the more protective leathers she’s gained over the years.

She leads Ash outside to the small plot of land they have and the horse Kass was gifted a few months ago. They load him up with the gear and Kass is quick to saddle him before settling Ash on him. They’d been working on Ash riding him since day one, just in case…

Just in case payed off well, it seems.

The horse is too small for Kass, but she leads them off to a less traveled road, heading towards…somewhere new.

“Where are we going?”

“Some place we don’t have to live in fear,” Kass answers simply. Ash sniffles and Kass sighs. This…is never easy. Leaving like this, never able to stay in one place for long for one reason or another. Whether it’s their horns or their size, or now Ash’s magic – there’s always something. But it won’t deter Kass. They will have a home.

“Ashokara, whether we are on the road or in the house, remember that I am always here for you. We can be each other’s home, alright?”

Ash sniffles again, “Alright. I’m gonna miss them though.”

“I know, sweetheart, but you’ll make new friends…wherever we’re going, friends who like you for you – all of you.”

She’s going to have to find tutors for her magic, books on magic. But that is something to worry about, for now she just needs to put as much distance between them and the little hamlet that Kass had been sure was it. But…life is never quite that simple. She is now the mother of an apostate Vashoth girl, Tal-Vashoth in her own right, simple is not going to be part of their lives.

But she can get them to good, and the best things never came simply anyways. Since discovering she was going to have a child, simple fled Kass’s life. But Ash came in and never once has she regretted that. Simple, Kass has found, is overrated.

After traveling for several hours into the night, Ash yawns and leans heavily over the horse.

Kass wants to keep going but Ash needs rest. Sighing, Kass stops the horse and tethers him to a nearby tree while Kass gathers some wood for a fire. Once started, Kass picks up Ash and holds her close to keep the heat in. They sit by the fire and Ash snuggles into Kass’s chest.

“I love you, Mama,” Ash whispers, gradually falling asleep. A weight lifts just a bit from Kass’s heart and she rests her cheek on top of Ash’s head.

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
